2017 Walker Christms Newsletter

Hello to all our family & friends!

After a late short autumn we are having a milder winter so far.  We enjoy the wood heat and crackling fire when the temperature dips down to freezing at night.  We are blessed to head into winter and the coming New Year with a full pantry of canned stuff from our garden and a freezer filled up as well.

It's been a busy year here at the Walker farm with our two ducks, five Guinea hen chicks that are busy growing now out of the brooder and under the nests, who hopefully will help the two older ones keep the tick population down once they are grown, two golden half grown chicks one of my hens hatched out for the first time this year, and four large buff roosters- that were supposed to be hens- who strut around the chicken yard and crow loudly early each morning. The hens continue to give us brown eggs every day. Our Texas heeler, Tex, who turned a year old this summer is convinced he is the boss of all.  He helped me chase two black bears that got into our woods and with his boundless energy keeps guard over our place. Texie boy ate the strawberries, blackberries, and ripened grapes almost as fast as I could pick them. Thankfully he left my green beans and tomatoes alone. Never a boring moment with Tex, who we are working on training.

Besides the regular upkeep around the place, this year I white washed the hen house and shed inside and out this summer. It was quite the undertaking, but looks so nice now that it is done. I also painted the back steps and rails along with the outside window frames of the sun room.  There is always plenty to do to keep one in shape. I'm so thankful that for most of the year I was able to be up and around.  There is much satisfaction in completing ones tasks.

Dana continues to be on oxygen most of the time now and even with physical therapy he still is weak.   He barely is able to make it to church once a month anymore so I only am able to go when Dwight can be here. Thankfully with increased and new medication, most of Dana’s seizures are now under control. If he exerts himself much it will set one off so Dana is mostly housebound. Every time we turn around another medication is added, which keeps me hopping to keep up with it all.  The eye doctor kept adding to Dana’s prescription eye drops until I was giving Dana twelve eye drops a day besides his four insulin shots and other meds.  Can you imagine? Some days I feel like I am going around in circles.

Dawn is doing better with her monthly shots and was able to do four VBS’s this summer even traveling out to Idaho. Annette is driving, plays the piano & violin, and loves to cook. Right before Thanksgiving she had to have gallbladder surgery. William, who is taller than me now, is the farm boy taking care of all the animals. He plays the piano, guitar, and banjo. Katie started kindergarten this year. This little tomboy sings with the family, loves to feed and pet the chickens and goats on their farm. They got two guard pups to train this past year.  Dawn’s family also came out twice to work around our place doing jobs that were beyond me.

Dwight continues to work at the body shop when not slowed down with a bleed. Right before Thanksgiving he scared us when he got a shoulder bleed that filled up his chest making him short of breath. It slowed Dwight down for a couple of weeks as he was weak with the loss of blood. Case continues to come every other weekend. His biggest thrill was getting a dirt bike for his birthday. He is growing, still full of energy, and almost as tall as me. Can that boy ever put away the food!  Every time I turn around he is hungry.

It’s always such a joy when my children and all the grand-kids come home. Our house rings with laughter and chatter while the walls vibrate with all the bouncing energy. Thankfully there is plenty of room to run around the Walker farm. The last couple of times William, Case, and Katie played “tag” with Tex. It was a tie who got worn out the quickest.

This Thanksgiving Lois, Ted, and Kyle drove down from Pennsylvania for the day.  It was such a special time. Lois and I hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years. Of course we never did get caught up talking- ha!

God has been good to our family this past year. We are truly blessed!

May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season

and a

Happy New Year!

Dorcas & Family

November Newsletter

Hello!

This is the time of the year to give thanks- something

I try to do every day as there is always something to be thankful for. No matter how bad our situation if we look around we can find someone a lot worse off. And you, my family and friends, are at the top of my thankful list this month. I am so blessed to have you in my life even if we don't get the chance to see each other often.

We had a late autumn season with barely enough time to enjoy the colorful leaves before they were gone. Today a thick fog has settled down on the mountain with colder weather headed our way. A couple good hard frosts killed my beans in the garden. I've harvested about all the seed I plan to save this year. I have planted bulbs for next spring, transplanted some of my flowers, and trimmed hedges.

 I've had fire in both of my wood stoves during the cold spells.  Nothing like hearing the crackling of a hot wood fire and feeling the heat to warm up one's aching/hurting bones. When it is freezing at night, I love to sit in my recliner close by the fire with a book.

After several days, I finally finished white washing the inside of my hen house barely getting it done before it got too cold. I first painted the wall opposite the nests so as not to disturb my laying hens in the morning. Wouldn't you believe it though that afternoon when I was up on the ladder to do the wall above the nests if four hens didn't decided to sit in a nest anyway?   So while I leaned over white washing four chicken heads watched my every move. Even when their head's got splattered they still sat. Unless we get a warm spell I may have to wait to white wash the inside of the shed until next year.  I also painted the steps and railings going down into my enclosed garden out back and the arch inside. Everything looks so fresh and new with a coat of paint.  When I get a paint brush in hand it’s hard for me to stop.

We had shock a couple weeks ago when I found my youngest black and white cat dead outside from no apparent reason. I figured when my long haired calico, Sarah Annabelle, and my house dog, Lucy Lou, who are both old, finally gave up the ghost I’d still have Elsie Mae as I only had her for four years.  Thankfully the two chicks that were hatched earlier and the five guinea hen chicks (one chick drowned) are still active and growing. I have the guinea hen chicks under a heat lamp in the brooder to stay nice and warm when it gets cold out.

Dawn and her family came up for a work day repairing two roofs, cleaning out gutters, putting up two lights/fans in the study for me, etc. A week before a couple in our church came, mowed, and weed-eated around the place as our riding mower isn’t working. It was such a blessing. Then Dawn and her family came up for a quick surprise birthday visit for Dana at the beginning of the month and ended up doing more work. I declare if they stayed for a week this place would look like new. It is wonderful seeing all the grand children helping and working right alongside their parents as Dwight brought Case too each time. Fifteen-year-old Annette, who needs gall bladder surgery, is quite the cook and loves helping in the kitchen. Five-year-old Katie loves helping me in the hen house while the boys work outside- between playing “tag” with Tex. If I could only harness some of that energy for myself! In the evening there is 4-wheeling. It kept us girls busy feeding all the fellows, although we sat on the porch for breaks whenever possible.

Even though the weather has gotten cooler, Dana’s oxygen hasn’t improved. He stays worn out most of the time, although the physical therapy did help some. My sister, Lois, who I haven’t seen for a couple of years, is coming down for Thanksgiving.  I am quite excited. Since Dawn is having a houseful herself they are coming up the weekend before to celebrate Thanksgiving with us as Dana isn’t up to traveling anywhere.

Wherever you and your family meet, may you all have

a blessed Thanksgiving season!

Dorcas

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

Hello everyone!

We had a short cold snap where I brought my hanging plants inside, but no frost yet. It warmed back up so my plants are back outside. I've had my windows opened too.  I love airing my house out and letting the breeze blow in the windows along with hanging out the wash on sunny days. I also swing on the porch swing or out on my back swing whenever I can grab a break during the day. The leaves have begun to fall so I stay busy sweeping off the porches and sidewalk each week. Usually by now the birch tree leaves along the driveway  have turned yellow, but they are still mostly green. It seems that autumn is slower coming this year.

My second batch of beans that I planted this summer are ready to harvest.  So happy to have fresh beans to eat again. Otherwise I am mostly gathering seed for next year. I also picked rose petals & pips and lemon mint leaves to dry for tea. I dry them quick using my microwave them store them in one of my many tins that I collect in the pantry.

I planted mums and spring bulbs outside my picket fence to add color to the blooming small white & purple daises, yellow golden rod & black susans, along with my stately row of multicolored marigolds.  Only a few roses bloom here and there.

Something got into my chicken house- I think a snake- and only two of the five baby chicks are left. It made me so mad. I went around plugging up holes. So far the two baby chicks are doing great running all over the chicken yard, scratching in the dirt, and growing.  Right now on my dining room table I have twelve guinea hen eggs that are ready to hatch out. Such fun! The two guinea hens that survived are full grown and are quite at home with the chickens. Hopefully by next year I can let them out to run so they can    eat ticks and other bugs. I cleaned out the duck's little pool and refilled it with clean water that didn't stay clean very long. The two white ducks love diving and splashing in the water. They get quite excited and quack around whenever I fill their pool or water bucket during summer dry spells.

                My biggest project though by far was white washing the hen house/shed.  Dana built it with wafer board several years ago and it is not weather proof and had begun to peel so I knew I had to do something before it all fell apart. So like the old timers I mixed up a brew of white wash with a little white paint began to roll. It was slow going especially when I had to get up on a ladder as I’m not as steady as I used to be. I’d paint one day and be down the next then get back at it again. Inside the chicken pen the crazy birds huddled around my feet so I could barely move.  Both they and I ended up with a fine spray of white wash all over us, but it didn’t deter the chickens for trying to figure out what I was up to. The hen house looks so nice and white. Now I want to get the inside painted before cold weather hits.

            Between all this I took Dana down to Cookeville two times to see different specialists. Physical therapy is coming twice a week along with the home health nurse. One morning we had the physical therapist, a lady from Buckeye to measure Dana for his diabetic shoes, and the home health nurse all the same day. By the time they left Dana was quite worn out.  He scared me the other Sunday morning when I heard something falling in the kitchen when I was back in a bedroom. I ran out to see what was going on and there was Dana flat on the floor passed out. I was beginning to think I’d have to call the ambulance when he finally came too and then after a bit was able to get up and with his walker over to a chair. Dana's oxygen level is staying down in the 80’s or low 90’s even with air.  He has put on 31 lbs, which I'm sure also affects it. So he stays out of breath, dizzy, and not too steady even with is walker.  Dana was able to make it to the homecoming at church this past Sunday, but went to bed as soon as we got back home. I never know from day to day how Dana is going to be.  When I’m working outside I keep running back inside to check on him every little bit along with keeping his insulin shots going and his medication.

 Dawn and I worried.  Last week they went down inside her throat and up her colon. Three days later she was still weak and not picking back up like she should have. Dawn took her to a local clinic and here if Annette didn't have strep throat too. So she is on antibiotics. Dawn is keeping a food diary of the foods Annette is having problems with for when they go back to the specialists in three weeks. He wants to do another test on her gall bladder.  He did find that Annette's esophagus was real irritated and scarred like she was having bad heartburn down lower so he put her on a high dosage of antacids. So we do appreciate prayer for this girl as she is only fifteen.

            Well I need to close my lengthy epistle about life out here on the Walker farm. Time continues to fly by so quickly. I hope this finds you having a good day wherever you are.

            Dorcas

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

Hello!  I hope this finds everything going OK on your end.

Between the eclipse- during which I was canning tomatoes that day, although I did take a break and sat out on my front porch during the main action- and the hurricanes that have battered our southern states, it broke the humid cycle normal at this time of the year with lovely cooler weather. In fact it has gotten down right chilly at night and the cool breezes say that autumn is nearly here.

The garden stuff is just about over and my pantry and freezer are full. I canned 12 qts of beans, 73 qts  of tomatoes, another 7 qts of the 3 day pickles, and have a total of 13 baggies of dried apples. Then I bought corn and did up 26 qts to put in the freezer.  Have I been busy or what?  All the work is worth it when I see my full pantry and freezer. There is nothing like cooking with your own homemade stuff. Case, my grandson, loves to help me in the kitchen. He tells me that my food is the best ever. I'm always glad to get wholesome food in him as his mother only buys fast food or stuff already made.

The exciting news at the Walker farm is that five baby chicks hatched from the six eggs over three days. I couldn't believe my eyes at first when on Friday morning I went out to the hen house to see a yellow tiny head peaking out from brown feathers as I wasn't expecting any eggs to hatch until that Monday. Talk about at tiny adorable ball of fluff! I put the mother hen and her babies in the brooder for a week before letting them out in the hen house. The mother hen fiercely protects her babies. I love watching her chuck to them as she searches for food and see them burrowing under her feathers to take a nap or jump on top of her and rest a bit. They are so full of energy. At first the other hens didn't know what to make of all these miniature creatures running around under their feet. Something has gotten into the hen house though and two of the babies are gone so I am stopping up any holes and keeping a close eye on them.

I somehow picked up the flu that is going around and was down for three miserable days. I am so thankful to be back up on my feet again and able to eat. What a blessing as I am behind on my outside work from all the canning. I need to get some more of my hedges trimmed again and get my gardens ready for the coming winter- not to mention cleaning out the hen house and shed. Of course my house also needs a loving touch as I haven't gotten to all of the rooms with my yearly cleaning- forget the spring and fall cleaning like my grandmother used to do. I am good to get each room thoroughly cleaned once a year, although I do shudder at all the dirt and dust wondering where on earth it has come from. It’s a good thing I do basic cleaning once a week or my poor house would totally collapse.

I am having more trouble keeping Dana on his oxygen. He gets tired of wearing it and will take it off. One Sunday even though his level was low with oxygen, Dana refused to agree to take it along so I stayed home not wanting to risk him passing out on me from lack of oxygen. I am no longer able to reason with him. Dana also goes to the senior center every Friday whether he is up to it or not. One week he barely was able to get back inside the house when the van brought him back. I had to go out and help him in where he collapsed in bed for the rest of the day.  Then another week I got a call. He started having seizures and passing out so they called the ambulance, which took him to the ER.  His sugar had bottomed out- a rare thing as it is always way too high. 

Dwight got some wood the other week so we were busy stacking it while Dwight split some. Soon it will be time to get my wood stoves going again. Needless to say I get plenty of exercise to stay fit without going to a gym or running up and down the road like I see some people do. What a waste of energy. How our grandparents would shake their heads. All they need is a garden and some animals.

I shall hush up for this month. Take care on your end!

Dorcas